Woman’s cousin arrested in knife attack Tuesday night in Riverton

(Riverton, Wyo.) – Riverton Police made an arrest Wednesday from a stabbing incident the day before after the suspect turned herself in to authorities. The victim, meanwhile, was mostly uncooperative with police, despite suffering a six inch-long laceration on her neck made with box cutter that required a trip to the emergency room for stitches.

A police report said the 26-year-old victim from St. Stephens did identify her assailant as her cousin, 23-year-old Margaret Goodman of Arapahoe, but she allegedly told officers “Everybody left to go back to the Rez and you won’t find them anyway.” Police found the woman covered in blood with a towel wrapped around her neck when they responded to a 911 call Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, Goodman called the FBI to report that she had been involved in a serious incident and needed to talk. The agent she contacted was her former foster parent. The agent brought her to the Probation and Parole office in Riverton and police were contacted.

According to a police report of the incident, Goodman told officers that she had been driven to an address on Blackfoot Street the night before and everyone gathered in a home there. An argument broke out between two women, allegedly over a man, and she went outside with the victim to “calm her down.” But the victim allegedly was agitated and began to fight back. Goodman claimed she pushed the victim away several times, but was still under attack. “At some point she gained access to a blue handled box cutter and swung at the victim in self defense,“ striking her across the neck. Others inside the house came out and began beating Goodman, who escaped and hid in a storage building in the neighborhood until things cooled down.

Goodman then made her way home and called her former foster parent on Wednesday.